The MCU’s Peter Parker has always had an adult mentor to look up to, and someone needs to fill this vacancy after Phase 4’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The MCU’s Peter Parker has been left without a mentor after Spider-Man: No Way Home. Tom Holland’s recent adventure in the MCU’s Phase 4 provided some brilliant moments for the franchise, seeing the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their versions of Peter Parker while also bringing back five villains from previous Spider-Man films produced by Sony. No Way Home also marked some significant changes in Parker’s MCU story, as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man faced threats from across the multiverse, cementing his identity as a major MCU hero while also leading to Parker’s emotional and unprecedented sacrifice.
Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Doctor Strange casting his mind-wiping spell across the multiverse and the now anonymous Spider-Man settling into an apartment in New York City with nobody to turn to for help. In previous MCU Spider-Man films, Parker has always had an adult mentor to look up to and seek advice from, whether it be Iron Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Mysterio and Nick Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home, or Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. As he heads into the MCU’s next Spider-Man trilogy, however, Peter Parker is completely alone, so there is speculation about who might fill this mentorship vacancy in the future.
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Daredevil
Throughout his career in Marvel Comics, Spider-Man has had several team-ups with a variety of other superheroes, but after their meeting in 1966’s Daredevil #16, Spider-Man and Daredevil would quickly become close confidants. Both heroes operate in anonymity protecting the streets of New York, so they share many similarities aside from their red costumes. This friendship would take the pair on many adventures together, including a joint Marvel Comics run of Daredevil/Spider-Man in 2001. With Matt Murdock now established in the MCU, it’s possible that Daredevil could become the next mentor to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
Charlie Cox originally portrayed Murdock in Marvel Television’s Netflix series Daredevil but joined the MCU proper with appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law ahead of his solo quest in Phase 5’s Daredevil: Born Again. The fact that Matt Murdock has already made an appearance as Peter Parker’s lawyer in No Way Home creates a solid connection between the pair, despite the fact that Murdock will no longer remember who Parker is. Spider-Man 4 could easily see Parker in trouble and seeking the help of lawyer he knows he can trust, especially since he knows of Murdock’s superhuman abilities.
Captain Marvel
The partnership between Peter Parker and Carol Danvers in Marvel Comics is a little complicated. The unlikely pair briefly dated during a 2009 series, though this didn’t turn into anything serious, and it’s hard to imagine this occurring in the MCU thanks to the massive age difference between Spider-Man and Captain Marvel. However, these two brilliant Avengers have another connection that could spell good news for Parker’s mentor in the future, as Captain Marvel and Spider-Man shared a moment on the battlefield in Avengers: Endgame, and it’s possible that Danvers even remembers who Peter Parker is.
Captain Marvel is widely regarded as one of (if not the) strongest superheroes in the MCU, imbued with the raw power of the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Space Stone, which grants her remarkable and unmatched abilities. The sheer scale of her power could have made her immune to Doctor Strange’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which would provide the MCU’s Spider-Man with a friendly and familiar face in a world where he feels completely alone. Perhaps no other hero would make a better mentor for Parker than Carol Danvers, though she has her own mystery to contend with during Phase 5’s The Marvels, so her availability may be strained.
Deadpool
Beginning in 2016, Marvel Comics released a 50-issue series titled Spider-Man/Deadpool, which saw the mismatched pair team up for a multitude of epic missions, and although Deadpool has actually been hired to kill Peter Parker, the pair find mutual respect for each other over the course of their journey. These two characters probably couldn’t be more opposite, but that’s why they work so brilliantly together, so seeing this dynamic in the MCU would be the perfect next step for Spider-Man after No Way Home.
After Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, Ryan Reynolds was quickly confirmed to be making the move from Fox’s X-Men franchise into Marvel Studios’ shared universe, reprising his role of Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool in Phase 6’s Deadpool 3. The upcoming film will see Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine enter the MCU thanks to the multiverse, and while Jackman probably won’t be hanging round, Reynolds’ Deadpool will be here to stay. This creates the perfect opportunity for some hilarious crossovers, potentially even seeing the Merc with a Mouth take Spider-Man under his unconventional wing.
Reed Richards
Spider-Man has had a long history with the Fantastic Four in Marvel Comics, which led to the web-slinger becoming an official member of the team during the 2011 relaunch of Fantastic Four. This connection could pose a possible future for Peter Parker in the MCU, as Marvel’s First Family is set to debut as part of the MCU’s Phase 6 in Fantastic Four. This is likely to be released before Spider-Man 4, so the team could already be established by the time Spider-Man graces the big screen again, meaning Parker could have a whole group of new superheroes to turn to for advice.
While the MCU’s official Fantastic Four hasn’t yet been introduced, The Office’s John Krasinski did appear as a variant of Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Krasinski’s Reed Richards showed a huge amount of compassion and revealed that his children (assumed to be Franklin and Valeria) have already been born, which would perhaps make him the perfect father figure for Peter Parker in the MCU’s future. It’s not known whether Krasinski will continue to play Reed Richards in the MCU, but Peter Parker could easily find himself at the Baxter Building in Spider-Man 4, seeking advice from the smartest man alive.
Wolverine
Marvel Studios has been teasing the introduction of Wolverine into the MCU throughout Phase 4, and with Hugh Jackman’s return as Fox’s iteration of the clawed mutant in Deadpool 3, it’s likely that the MCU’s official Wolverine is just around the corner. Much like with Deadpool, a partnership between Wolverine and Spider-Man would perhaps be unexpected in the MCU, but Marvel Comics’ 2010 series, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, could provide the perfect insight into the dynamics between the pair. In this story, the two heroes are thrust back in time after a battle with the Orb, and the pair fight to get back to their home timeline.
Jackman has been confirmed to be reprising the role of Wolverine for Deadpool 3, but it’s likely that a new actor will be donning the adamantium claws in the MCU’s future. Wolverine would be an interesting and probably divisive choice for Spider-Man’s mentor, but the mutant has been shown to care deeply about the people closest to him, so there may be no better protector for the young web-slinger. It’s not known who will take up the role of Wolverine for future MCU projects, but with mutants slowly being integrated into the franchise and the X-Men just over the horizon, it’s possible that Spider-Man could meet Wolverine very soon.
Captain America
In the MCU, a young Peter Parker dreamed of being Iron Man, proven by his appearance in Iron Man 2 at the Stark Expo, but in the comics, Parker dreamed of becoming Captain America instead. Spider-Man’s long-running quest to become an Avenger meant he formed a close bond with Steve Rogers’ Captain America, but this was paused for the events of Civil War similarly to the MCU’s Captain America: Civil War, where Parker sided with Iron Man and went up against Rogers. There wasn’t much of a link between the MCU’s Rogers and Parker, but the new Captain America could easily step into the role of mentor for Spider-Man.
Avengers: Endgame saw Steve Rogers pass the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson, who finally embraced his promotion during The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The MCU’s new Captain America will likely be a smaller-scale hero, as Wilson doesn’t have the super-soldier serum in his system, so a team-up with Spider-Man could be the best way to give him some high-profile adventures. Wilson has already been shown to cultivate strong relationships with other heroes, including bringing Ant-Man into the fold, working alongside Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon, and helping Bucky Barnes on his road to recovery, so him mentoring Peter Parker would be a fantastic next step.
Nobody – Spider-Man Doesn’t Need A Mentor
Just because previous Spider-Man projects in the MCU have seen Peter Parker guided by an adult hero doesn’t mean that needs to be the case for future films focusing on the web-slinger. In fact, Spider-Man: No Way Home might have created the perfect opportunity for Peter Parker to finally head off on his own and make his own choices. Parker grew up a lot over the events of No Way Home, even to the point where he defied the demands of Doctor Strange, protected the five multiversal villains, and even locked Strange up in the mirror dimension for most of the story, so perhaps Spider-Man doesn’t need a mentor anymore.
No Way Home even saw Peter Parker make the decision to follow through with Strange’s spell, making everyone forget him, including his closest friends and family. This restored his anonymity and protected his friends’ futures but left him with nobody to turn to, marking an emotional self-sacrifice for the young hero. While he previously relied on others for missions and tech, he now has his police radio scanner and has sewn himself a new suit, proving he is entirely self-sufficient. In fact, it’s possible that Parker himself could become a mentor after Spider-Man: No Way Home, as there is speculation that Miles Morales could finally be introduced to the MCU.
